Cotton-seed-weighing apparatus



F. C. MATTERN comm seen wusums APPARATUS.

APPLICATVION FILED APR. 26. $917 7 1,328,747, Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W/ T/VESS' F. c. MATTERN.

COTTON SEED WEIGHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 26.191?- Patented Jan. 20,1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2- I 1 I g 2 /5 v 5 i I W w/mEss INVENTOR JZ J CQg/IW 6 M ATTORNEYS.

F. C. MATTERN.

COTTON SEED WEIGHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION 'mzu APR. 26. 1911.

1,328,747. 4 Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

FRANK C. MATTERN,

OF GREAT NECK, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO FAIRBANKS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

COTTON-SEED-WEIGHING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

Application filed April 26, 1917. Serial No. 164,611.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK C. MATTERN, a

-citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of Great Neck, in the county of Nassau and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Seed-Weighing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of this invention are to pro-;

vide improved means particularly adapted for receiving cotton seed at the gin anddetermining the weight of the seed; to provide means for relieving the scales of the seed quickly and at any desired time; to provide an improved automatic closure for the bottom of the weighing hopper which will lock against the pressure of the cotton seed to open it, but which is readily opened by the operator when it is desired to discharge the cotton seed; to prevent the cotton choking or clogging in the receiving hopper; to provide a simple weighing devlce which is easily and readily understood and operated; to economize floor space and permit arranging the parts to suit varying conditions, and to obtain other advantages and results ing description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate the same parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a cotton seed weighing apparatus embodying my in-.

vention, one of the supporting beams being broken away in part;

Fig. 2 is a view looking in the same di rection as Fig. 1, showin the apparatus in central section, without t e scale;

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view, on larger scale, of a port-ion of the apparatus showing a certain gate in closed position;

' Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig.

3 showing the gate open;

Fig. 5 is an elevation looking at the left hand side of the apparatus as viewed in Fig.1;

Fig. 6 is a view looking at the upper part of the hopper from the right hand side of Fig. 1 but upon larger scale;

Fig. 7 is a plan of a portion of the hopper supporting means shown in Fig. 6, and

Fig. 8 is a vertical section of the lower portion of the receiving hopper similar to Fig. 2, but upon larger scale.

In the specific embodiment of the invenweighing hopper seed from as may be brought out in the follow-- tion illustrated in said drawings, the reference numerals 1, 2 indicate weighing and receiving hoppers respectively, the former being suspended by suitable connections so as to be balanced by a scale 3 of any desired construction, and the latter being supported in fixed position beneath the weighing hopper. Cotton seed is fed into the upper or weighing hopper 1 and its weight ascertained by the scale 3, after which said seed is permitted to dump quickly into the receiving hopper 2, from whence it can be disposed of at leisure the weighing hopper in the meantime being free to receive more seed to be weighed. Obviously the upper or must discharge the seed quickly, so no interruption be caused in the operation of the plant supplying the seed avoid taking up a great deal of floor space, and while in the drawings I have showna system of supporting beams, I do not wish to be understood as restricting myself thereto, in that most installations will utilize the existing beams and rafters which form part .of the ceiling of the mill. For illus-- trative purposes, lon itudinal beams 4, 4 are provided spaced su cientlv to receive "the weighing hopper between t transversely across these longitudinal beams are rafters 5, 5, v5, between two of which, also, the weighing hopper may move.

Rocker shafts 6, 6 are mounted horizontally at and preferably parallel. to two opposite sides of the weighing hopper near its top, the support for them being shown as hooked bolts 7, 7 depending from the rafters 5, 5. The hooks of said bolts '7, 7 each carry a yoke 8 providing spaced and arallel arms apertured in alinemenl. ad]acent their lower free ends for receiving the ends of a supporting knife 9 which ends project from opposite sides of a web 10 formed in-' hem, and carried 4 part of the hopper, back wall and the may here be noted that the strips 15, 15 are at two of thesides of the hopper and the rocker shafts 6, of the hopper.

At corresponding ends of the rocker 6 are at the other two sides shafts 6, 6, are secured caps 16, 16 to which are bolted or otherwise secured levers 17, 17 extendmg toward eachother at the side of the hopper and arranged so their inner ends overlap one another, preferably one abo"e the other as shown. Laterally projecting knives at the overlapping ends of the levers engage in suitable yokes 18, 18- free to swing toward the rocker shafts and carried by a hook member 19 hooked into a yoke 20 suspended from knife edges of a teeter beam 21 which extends in the same general direction as the rocker shafts away from the hop- This teeter sitioned with one end over the overlapping ends of the levers. 17, 17 and is fu hermore fulcrumed at about its middle a nected by a link 22 at its other end to the scale 3. Obviously as cotton seed is introduced into the hopper, the weight draws down upon the eyebolts 14 and yokes 13, tending to swing the rocker shafts upward, and these shafts in turn tend to swing the attached levers 17, 17 downward at their overlapping ends. This movement transmitted to the teeter beam will draw upward upon the link tending to swing thebeam 23 of the scale 3 upward. Addition of more weight to the free end of the scale beam counterbalances this tendency and will obviously indicate the weight of seed contained in the hopper.

Preferably the upper part of the weighing hopper in plan view 1s square so it may be turned whichever way found most desirable upon any installation.

what may be termed the two side walls extend straight down in the sameplanes with the upper parts thereof, but the other or front wall slopes for its lower part 24, inwardly toward the back wall. Furthermore, the

lower edge of the front wall 24 is lower than the lower edge of the back wall, the lower edges of the side walls sloping to correspond with the slope of the front wall to its bottom edge and then extending horizontally rearward, that is, not following the upward slope to the back wall, see Figs.

and 4.

A gate 25 is hinged as at 26 at its upper edge to the lower edge of the short or back wall and adapted to swing forwardly against the bottom edge of the sloping front wall 24. When the gate is opened, it swings beam 21 obviously is po- (1 is con-' For the lower downward between the 'side walls into substantial alinement with the vertical back wa-ll,'forming a baflle to prevent the cotton seed from shooting over the top of the receiving hopper, but at the same time pro-vidinga large opening in the weighinghopper so it will discharge quickly and entirely. For holding the gate closed under the pressure of the cotton seed as well as against 1ts own weight, toggle links 27, 28 are provided pivoted together as at 29 and one, as 27, pivoted at its outer end to the gate and the other, as 28, made fast at its outer end to a horizontal shaft 30 extending across the back of the hopper substantially parallel to the gate. Rotation of this shaft 30, rotates the attached toggle link 28 and consequentl swings the other toggle link 27. Pre erably the toggle link 28 is provided with a flange 31 which extends past' the pivot 29 holding the links together and adapted to engage the other toggle link 27 when the links are brought just past alined position. The pressure of thegate and the contents of the hopper will then hold the toggles from swinging back again, and the gate is therefore held closed. For opening'the gate theshaft is rotated, as by a lever 32 secured at one end of the shaft, to pass thetoggles through their alined position and toward. each other, see Fig. 4. Preferably there are two sets of toggles, one set near each end of the gate operated by the same shaft, and furthermore, it is preferable to provide reinforcing strips 33 extending in a direction from top to bottom of the gate, which strips to the lower edges of the side walls and extending rearwardly beyond the plane of-the back wall and forming bracket arms for the purpose, room thus being afforded for the toggles to operate without interfering with the desired amount of swing for the gate.

In order to positively maintain the toggles in position locking the gate closed, and also to cause the gate to close when not held manually open, a tension spring 35 is provided tending to swing the toggles upward or into alined position. This spring is shown substantially midway between the sets of toggles, held at its upper end by a suitable bracket 36 attached to the back wall of the hopper,-and secured at its lower end to a brace 37 attachedto and extending between the flanged toggle arms 28, 28. 125 The receiving hopper 2 into which the cotton seed discharges from the weighing hopper, is preferably suspended in fixed position by suitable bars 38 at each corner, spaced sufliciently far apart so as not to 130 so, the cotton seed will not go over interfere with the weighing hopper. Furtoggle link having one end thereof pivot-ally thermore, the receiving hopper is preferably connected to sa1d gate, a second toggle l1nk somewhat Wider than the weighing hopper the side edges while discharging from the one into the other, and for the same reason the lower edge of the sloping front wall is preferably substantially over the middle of the receiving hopper.

The receiving hopper also preferably provides a vertical rear wall 39 and afront wall the lower part 40 of which slopes rearwardly downward. At the bottom of said walls, where they meet, is provlded'a screw conveyer 41 which, when rotated, w1ll feed the cotton seed toward one end or side of will drop by gravity to the eonveyer.

the hopper where it will fall into a chute 42 and may be disposed of in any way desired. Above the conveyer 41 and ada]cent the vertical or back wall 39 0f the hopper is a suitable agitator 43 shown as comprising a plurality of blocks 44 bolted to a shaft 45 extending parallel to the conveyer and driven from the same through the agency of suitable sprockets 46, 46 and chain 4 upon the outside of the hopper.

This agitator extends clear across the interior chamber of the receiving hopper, contiguous to the vertical wall 39 of the same, and preferably its blocks 44 also extend the entire length of the agitator although they might under some conditions be made up of shorter spaced sections. The effect of this agitator, located close to the vertical wall as has been stated,-is to clear away or loosen the cotton seed adjacentthe bottom of said vertical wall, so

It has been found that such a location of the agitator as I have described is far more effective than any other and I desire to be understood as emphasizing this feature of the invention. I By the construction thus described, a cotton seed weighing apparatus is provided which is particularly efiicient and adapted for continuous use without clogging or get ting out of order. At the sametime it enables the cotton seed to 'be weighed accurately, in quantities varying as the farmers bring their loads to the gin, and such weighing can be done rapidly and with little labor. Many features of the apparatus are old in the art-and skilled in the manufacture of such products without departing from the spirit .and scope therefore I do not wish limiting myself except forth in the appended of my invention, and to be understood as as to the features set claims.

Having thus described the invention, What I claim is.

1. The combination with a hopper, and a gate closure hinged at its upper edge to one side of the lower end of said hop-per, of a that that which is above can be varied by those.

having one end thereof pivotally connected to the other end of said first-mentioned toggle link, a rotatable operating shaft spaced fromthe said side wall of the hopper upon which the gate is hinged and rigidly connected to the said second-mentioned toggle link to force said toggle links into substam tial alinement to close the gate, and fold the toggle links to swing the gate into an open position in substantial alinement with the wall of the hopper upon which said gate is hinged, and means for rotating said shaft.

' 2. The combination with a hopper, and a gate closure hinged at its upper edge to one sided the lower end of said hopper, of a toggle link havinoone end thereof pivotall connected to said gate, a second toggle lin having one end thereofpivotally connected to the other end of said first-mentioned toggle link, a pair of bracket arms projecting outwardly from the saidwall of the hopper upon which the gate is hinged, a shaft journaled in said bracket arms in spaced relation to said wall of the hopper and rigidly connected to said second-mentioned toggle link, a spring connected to said toggle links for maintaining them in substantial alinement for closing the gate, and means for rotatlng links between the said shaft and gate to swing the gate into open position in substantial alinement with the said wall of the hopper upon which the gate ishinged.

3. The combination with a hopper, and a gate closure hinged at its upper edge to one said shaft to fold the said toggle side of the lower end of said hopper, of a to the other end of said rst-mentioned toggle link, a rotatable operating shaft jour-- naled upon the said side of the hop-per'upon which said gate is hinged at a pointbelow the pivotal connection of said first-mentioned toggle link with the gate when the gate is closed, said shaft being rigidly con-. nected to said second-mentioned toggle link, a spring for moving said toggle links into substantial alinement to hold the gate in a closed position, and means for rotating said shaft'to fold the toggle links downwardly between the said shaft and said gate to swing the gate into open position in substantial alinement with said wall of the hopper upon which the gate is hinged.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK c. MATTERN.

Witnesses:

WALTER L. BANKS, H. QUINN. 

